Collector-neck connection



Sept. 28, 1937. H. s. MATTHEWS COLLECTOR NECK CONNECTION Filed Dec. 14, 1935 INVENTOR Harry S. Mali/26x05.

WITNESSES:

ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 28, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COLLECTOR-NECK CONNECTION Pennsylvania Application December 14, 1935, Serial No. 54,465

9 Claims.

My invention relates to soldered connections between a plurality of closely spaced bars and a large massive body of good heat-conducting material, and in particular it relates to the soldering of the armature conductor bars of unipolar generators to the massive collector-cylinder castings at each end of the machine.

In developing a large unipolar generator of 150,000 ampere capacity, at about 7 volts, it was found that the large volume of metal in the collector casting, and the high heat-conductivity of the material (copper) of which the casting was made, caused the local heat which was applied thereto, for the purpose of soldering the armature conductors onto the same, to be carried away too fast to insure a good soldering job, without burning the copper or raising the collector temperature to a value so high that it might ruin adjacent rubber or other insulating material, or that it might cause softening of the collector-cylinder material. As fast as local heat could be applied, for soldering, the heat would flow away in three directions, namely, circumferentially, in each direction, and radially inwardly. Heat could not flow axially because the connection was made to a flanged neck on one end of the commutator cylinder.

In order to localize the heat, for soldering the individual armature bars, or small groups of bars, to the collector necks, I have made a series of saw-cuts through the neck of each collector cylinder, interspersed between the slots which received the ends of the armature bars, thus preventing the flow of heat in two directions circumferentially away from the joints to be soldered. By means of these saw-cuts, twothirds of the loss of heat is removed, and I have found that the armature conductors or bars can be satisfactorily soldered into their conductorreceiving slots in the collector necks, without the necessity for going to a destructively high temperature, either of the necks or of the main body of the collector cylinder.

My invention is illustrated in a preferred form of embodiment in the accompanying drawing; wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of the rotor member of a unipolar generator, with parts broken away, and with the top half of the stator member indicated diagrammatically in sectional view, to show the cooperation of parts, and

Fig. 2 is an end view of a part of a collector cylinder, showing the slotting of the neck, with six armature bars soldered in place.

The drawing shows my invention applied to a unipolar generator having a rotor member 3 comprising a shaft 4 of magnetizable material, on which is mounted an intermediately disposed rotor-core 5 provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots 6 which are at least partially open. Mounted on the shaft 4 at each end of the rotor-core 5, is a long, massive collectorcylinder 1, which is a heavy casting made of a highly conducting copper alloy, the material of which was chosen on account of the requirements respecting the conduction and collection of a very large amount of current. Each collector-cylinder 1 is preferably spaced from the shaft 4 to provide a water-cooling space 8, by means of rubber rings 9, as set forth and claimed in an application of F. T. Hague and F. R. J. Davis, Serial No. 54,516, filed December 14, 1935, for Cooling and mounting of collectors for unipolar generators, assigned to the same assignee as the present application. The collector-cylinders l are held in place by shrink rings ll.

Each collector-cylinder 1 is provided, at its inner end, adjacent to the rotor-core 5, with a flange or neck l2. As shown in Fig. 2, these collector necks l2 are provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots l3 and with a plurality of other slots, in the form of saw-cuts l4 interspersed therebetween, for the purpose of breaking up the circumferential flow of heat, as hereinabove explained.

In the particular embodiment of my invention shown in the drawing, the armature conductors 15 are sectionalized or broken up into a plurality of smaller bars, for greater flexibility and ease of handling, instead of using one large massive bar in each of the rotor-core slots 6. As shown, these armature bars are disposed, two deep, and three across, in each of the armature slots 6, so that there are three circumferentially displaced adjacent armature-conductors l5 in each coreslot 6. When the connections are made to the collector necks i2, however, each of these three circumferentially displaced bars 15, which are disposed close together in any given core-slot 6, is separated and fitted into a separate slot [3 in each collector neck l2.

It is necessary to provide for the thermal expansion and contraction of the armature-conductors l5, and to this end, I provide bends I5 in the portions of the armature-conductors between the rotor-core and one or both of the collector cylinders, so that the ends of the armature conductors, which are connected to the collector necks, are circumferentially displaced from the respective body-portions of said conductors,

which lie in the core-slots 6, as shown in Fig. 1. In order to be able to slip the stiff armature bars I5 radially into place, into the core-slots 6, in building the unipolar generator, it is necessary to have the slots E3 of the collector necks l2, which receive the conductors lying in any given rotor-slot 6, inclined so as to be substantially parallel with the radial slot 6 in the rotorcore 5. Since the ends of the armature conductors are circumferentially displaced from the central body-portions thereof, and since the ends are substantially parallel to the central bodyportions, this means that the neck slots l3 which receive said ends must be inclined at an angle to the radial direction, as shown in Fig. 2.

In the manufacture of a rotor member in accordance with my invention, the armature conductors l 5 are secured, by soldering or other heat treatment, in their respective neck-slots l3, either one slot at a time or a few slots at a time, such as two or three slots, by applying heat locally to the place where the heat treatment is being given. It will be noted that the slots or saw-cuts I4, which do not receive any armature conductors, serve to break up the circumferential flow of heat away from the heat-treated region, thus very materially facilitating the soldering operation, in fact, making it practicable and possible, whereas it would have been practically impossible without saw-cuts, as previously explained.

The stator member of the unipolar generator, which cooperates with the rotor member hereinabove described, is indicated diagrammatically, in Fig. 1, as comprising an intermediately disposed slotted core 2! cooperating with the rotorcore 5 to provide a cylindrical air-gap 22 therebetween. The outer periphery of the stator-core 2| is extended into a plurality of axially extending frame-arms 23, at each end of the machine, said arms terminating in end-brackets 24 which complete the magnetic circuit to the shaft G of the machine. Field-excitation means are shown, in the form of coils 25 surrounding the shaft 4 and disposed against the inner sides of each of the end-brackets 24, as set forth and claimed in an application of F. T. Hague and F. R. J. Davis, Serial No. 54,517, filed December 14, 1935, for Field windings for unipolar generators, assigned to the same assignee as the present application.

Lying within the slots of the stator-core 2| are a plurality of compensating bars 26, which are integrally extended, on the left-hand end of the machine, to provide brushholder supporting bars, carrying brushholders 21 which, in turn, hold the brushes 28 which bear on the left-hand collector cylinder 1. The right-hand ends of the compensating bars 26 are insulatingly joined, as indicated at 3!, to a plurality of separate barextensions 32 which support the brushholders 21 at the right-hand end of the machine. The generator terminal-leads 36 and 31 are connected onto the bars 25 and 32, on the respective sides of the insulating connection 3 I, as indicated. The details of the compensating unipolar generator, including the parts and combinations relating to the compensating bars, are described and claimed in an application of F. T. Hague and F. R. J. Davis, Serial No. 54,518, filed December 14, 1935, for a Compensated unipolar generator, assigned to the same assignee as the present application.

While I have illustrated my invention in a preferred form of embodiment, in connection with a unipolar generator, it will be appreciated that certain features are of more general application, and. that I am not limited to the precise form of unipolar generator which is shown. I desire, therefore, that the appended claims Shall be accorded the broadest construction consistent with their language and the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. A unipolar generator characterized by a rotor member having a rotor-core provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots which are at least partially open, a collector cylinder at each end of said rotor-core, each collector cylinder having a flanged neck at the end adjacent to the rotor-core, and armature-conductors having their central portions disposed in said coreslots, and having their ends connected to said collector-necks, the armature-conductors having bends therein, in their portions between said rotor-core and at least one of said collectors, so that the ends of the armature-conductors, which are connected to said collector, are circumferentially displaced from the respective body portions of said conductors, the necks of said collector cylinder having conductor-receiving slots for receiving the ends of the respective conductors in such manner that the slots which receive the ends and the central portions of any given conductor are all substantially parallel to each other.

2. A unipolar generator characterized by a rotor member having a rotor-core provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots, a collector cylinder at each end of said rotor-core, each collector cylinder having a flanged neck at the end adjacent to the rotor-core, each collectorneck having a plurality of conductor-receiving slots and a plurality of other slots interspersed therebetween, and armature-conductors having their central portions disposed in said core-slots, and having their ends disposed in, and united by heat-treatment to, the respective conductorreceiving slots of the respective collector-necks.

3. A unipolar generator characterized by a rotor member having a rotor-core provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots which are at least partially open, a collector-cylinder at each end of said rotor-core, each collector cylinder having a flanged neck at the end adjacent to the rotor-core, each collector-neck having a plurality of conductor-receiving slots and a plurality of other slots interspersed therebetween, and armature-conductors having their central portions disposed in said core-slots, and having their ends disposed in, and united by heat-treatment to, the respective conductor-receiving slots of the respective collector-necks, the armatureconductors having bends therein, in their portions between said rotor-core and at least one of said collectors, so that the ends of the armatureconductors, which are connected to said collector, are circumferentially displaced from the respective body portions of said conductors, the slots which receive the ends and the central portions of any given conductor being all substantially parallel to each other.

4. A unipolar generator characterized by a rotor member having a rotor-core provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots which are at least partially open, a collector cylinder at each end of said rotor-core, each collector cylinder having a flanged neck at the end adjacent to the rotor-core, and armature-conductors having their central portions disposed in said core-slots, there being a plurality of circumferentially displaced, adjacent armature-conductors in each core-slot, said armature conductors having their ends connected to said collector-necks, each collector-neck having a separate conductor-receiving slot for each circumferentially displaced armature-conductor, the slots which receive the ends and the central portions of a group of a plurality of conductors disposed in any given core-slot being all substantially parallel to each other.

5. A unipolar generator characterized by a rotor member having a, rotor-core provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots which are at least partially open, a collector cylinder at each end of said rotor-core, each collector cylinder having a flanged neck at the end adjacent to the rotor-core, and armature-conductors having their central portions disposed in said coreslots, there being a plurality of circumferentially displaced, adjacent armature-conductors in each core-slot, said armature-conductors having their ends connected to said collector-necks, the armature-conductors having bends therein, in their portions between said rotor-core and at least one of said collectors, so that the ends of the armature-conductors, which are connected to said collector, are circumferentially displaced from the respective body portions of said conductors, each collector-neck having a separate conductor-receiving slot for each circumferentially displaced armature-conductor, the slots which receive the ends and the central portions of a group of a plurality of conductors disposed in any given core-slot being all substantially parallel to each other.

6. A unipolar generator characterized by a rotor member having a rotor-core provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots which are at least partially open, a collector cylinder at each end of said rotor-core, each collector cylinder having a flanged neck at the end adjacent to the rotor-core, and armature-conductors having their central portions disposed in said core-slots, there being a plurality of circumferentially displaced, adjacent armature-conductors in each core-slot, each collector-neck having a separate conductor-receiving slot for each circumferentially displaced armature-conductor, the slots which receive the ends and the central portions of a group of a plurality of conductors disposed in any given core-slot being all substantially parallel to each other, said armature conductors having their ends disposed in, and united by heattreatment to, said conductor-receiving slots of their respective collector-necks, each collectorneck having other slots interspersed between the collector-receiving slots.

7. A unipolar generator characterized by a rotor member having a rotor-core provided with a plurality of conductor-receiving slots which are at least partially open, a collector cylinder at each end of said rotor-core, each collector-cylinder having a flanged neck at the end adjacent to the rotor-core, and armature-conductors having their central portions disposed in said coreslots, there being a plurality of circumferentially displaced, adjacent armature-conductors in each core-slot, the armature-conductors having bends therein, in their portions between said rotor-core and at least one of said collectors, so that the ends of the armature-conductors, which are connected to said collector, are circumferentially displaced from the respective body portions of said conductors, each collector-neck having a separate conductor-receiving slot for each circumferentially displaced armature-conductor, the slots which receive the ends and the central portions of a group of a plurality of conductors disposed in any given core-slot being all substantially parallel to each other, said armature-conductors having their ends disposed in, and. united by heattreatment to, said conductor-receiving slots of their respective collector-necks, each collectorneck having other slots interspersed between the collector-receiving slots.

8. Means for fastening a plurality of closely spaced, rod-like members to a massive body of good heat-conducting properties, comprising a combination of said rod-like members and said body, characterized by a flange-like projection of said body, said flange-like projection having a plurality of closely spaced member-receiving slots and a plurality of other slots interspersed therebetween, said rod-like members having portions thereof disposed in, and united by heat-treatment to, the respective member-receiving slots.

9. The method of fastening a plurality of closely spaced, rod-like members to a massive body of good heat-conducting properties, said body having a flange-like projection which is provided with a plurality of closely spaced member-receiving slots and a plurality of other slots interspersed therebetween, said method consisting in disposing said rod-like members in the respective member-receiving slots and applying a plurality of separate heat-treatments to the several portions of said mass surrounding the respective memberreceiving slots adjacent to said other slots, whereby said other slots limit the free flow of heat away from the portions undergoing heat-treatment.

HARRY S. MATTHEWS. 

